to his body and a gunshot to his head." an autopsy reveals that andrew cunanan was not hiv positive after all. gianni versace, meanwhile, is cremated. his ashes are flown back to italy, and after a star-studded funeral, scattered at his villa in lake como, half an hour north of milan -- the city that had crowned him a king. lazaro quintana: "what the world lost when gianni was, was killed, the most creative, the kindest man i've ever met, one of the most intelligent men i've ever talked to." joan juliet buck: "lost a really happy guy and a guy who was eager to share his happiness, eager to share his toys, happy to bring people into

this dance that he'd invented. it lost someone charming who still had a great deal of innocence i think. antonio d'amico: "it's impossible to forget. it is impossible to get out the images of his blood, the body on the blood. i mean, that is an image that would be almost with me. i still suffer for him, of course. gianni's a part of my life and will always be."

[♪ theme music ♪] >> good morning, welcome to the "bill press show," my name is jamal simmons, and obviously i am not bill press. but i'm here this morning for bill press who is out today. i think he is on a one-man sequestration furlough, but this morning we're going to be here talking about some incredible stories a lot of news has been going on over the weekend, the sequestration is obviously starting in earnest today. we have got to talk about the romney interview on fox news this morning. we'll talk about joe biden, and

then we'll have some great guest, alexander jaffy from the hill josh dubuax, and jim tankersley. it will be a great show and we have our entire team here. >> wait, are we going to have dennis rodman on today's show. >> i think so. and in honor of dennis i'm here this morning, but guess what -- don't hate me. [ laughter ] >> all right. we're going to get started in just a minute here. i want you all to call in 866-55-press, 866-557-7377. good morning, welcome to the "bill press show." my name is jamal simmons and we'll be right back. ♪

billy zane stars in barabbas. coming in march to reelz. to find reelz in your area, go to reelz.com

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> jamal: good morning welcome back to the "bill press show," this is jamal simmons, sitting in for bill press, who is out today. we're looking forward to a really big show. we just told you a few minutes ago we have some great guests here. we'll be talking to alexander jaffy, but starting us off right now, we have a great team i'm the one that is new, everybody else is a regular. my good buddy, peter ogburn who

drafted me off of the bench this morning. >> thanks for coming in. >> dan henning, and phil becker who is screening calls. phil hello. he doesn't get a microphone. and siprion bolling, who we live who is doing our video. good morning siprion. so peter, how was your weekend? >> it was good. it with good. nice low-key weekend. >> jamal: this is like a weird's sports time like coming into -- obviously march madness is coming up we had some good nba basketball. so this is -- we're coming into the full-fledged sports time of the year. >> yeah. >> with basketball, right? >> yeah. >> and then we have all kinds of big political stories going on. ing don't forget also our phone

number here is 866-55-press 866-557-7377. you can also tweet us @bp show let us know what you like and don't like. don't let us know too much what you don't like. >> yeah look, don't give them too much of an opening there. i can't handle getting my feelings hurt too bad on month morning. >> jamal: that's right. mitt romney had a big interview this weekend. >> he did >> jamal: and where was it npr? no msnbc?

no. where else could it have been? oh, fox news. so -- what did he say on fox news? >> you know, it was an interesting take. first of all that it took him this morn to actually sit down for an interview. the election was obviously in -- in november and so now here it is the beginning of march, and he first sits down and talks. and -- you know, he is still sour about losing. he says it kills him to not be in the white house. and ann blames the media for the loss. so it was interesting to see that play out, but it also is kind of sad to see that he is still that sort of hurt over the whole thing. >> jamal: i know. we'll talk a lot about that and a bunch of other things. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full

court press." >> dennis rodman is back state side after spending name north korea, and he appeared for some reason on nbc's this week. >> at least they didn't book john mccain. >> tell that to face the nation was john mccain and his brother or boyfriend, lindsey graham were on side by side on face the nation. he appeared saying that kim at just 28 years old the north korean dictator is a great guy, he is not his father. he wants president obama to call him. he thinks they could break the

ice with basketball. >> jamal: okay. >> that would solve all of the world's problems. >> jamal: i'm an old detroit piston's fan, but i have a soft spot for dennis rodman. so i can't go too negative on dennis rodman. >> let's send rick mahorn to syria. let's send bill lambeard to iran. >> laura sil verman's attempt to be the first nfl kicker did not last long. he is injured her leg while kicking. she kicked just two tryouts, she then called it quits, saying she

hopes to try another time. >> wow. the 14-yard kick is a pretty tough way to day bu. >> i know y'all are going to get mad at me for saying this because i a feminist i love women, i have all of their albums. but women should not be playing football. >> yeah. >> i will watch women's soccer women's basketball women's softball, women should not be playing football with men. >> jamal: but there are women who play football. >> in college, yeah. this girl doesn't even play professional soccer.

she plays club-level soccer. >> jamal: well somebody saw something good in here. he hope she feels better and we hope maybe other women who play football with two os, get to try out. >> everybody is for the woman playing football until she gets hit by ray lewis. kickers get hit in football. and if she gets hit by an nfl linebacker, it will not be pretty. >> queen elizabeth is in the hospital in great britain with a stomach bug. the 86-year-old queen is quite healthy overall. she has not been in a hospital in ten years.

buckingham palace says she will stay in the hospital for a couple of days until the infection is under control and she feels well enough to go home, but overall they say she is in good spirits. >> jamal: so do the dogs come when she goes to the hospital. >> i have a feeling she can do whatever she wants. she is the queen. >> jamal: yes. we do want to get -- do we have -- let's talk a little bit more about mitt romney. so mitt romney talked -- talked a little bit over the weekend on fox news about how incredibly disappointed it is -- he was to loose the presidency. >> romney: it is emotional. there was such passion in the people that were helping us. i just felt we really let them down. >> there was that crushing disappointment. not for us, our lives are going

to be fine. it's for the country. >> oh, come on. >> jamal: yes, 5 million more voters decided you know what there's nothing in you. >> what a dumb thing to say. we feel bad for the country. the country voted. it's not like we missed out on the opportunity to pick up on this hot item mitt romney. americans had the choice. >> jamal: it was a full-on five years of mitt romney in the national spotlight. he started running for president way back in 2007 the first time and lost and came back the good news is that mitt romney says he recognizes he is not going to run again, but, you know it really -- i think it kind of kills him. >> romney: i look at what is happening right now. i wish i were there. it kills me not to be there, not

to be in the white house doing what needs to be done. >> jamal: the 47% i think are pretty happy that he is not there. i'll give him a little bit of sympathy. >> you are such a liberal. >> jamal: i worked for a guy named al gore. he won was but not allowed to take office by the supreme court. he went to europe grew a beard, got big and fat, wrote some books, you lose the white house, i understand why it kills you. you spending a lot of time and money, your friends and family you are dialing for dollars, he stopped running for governor of massachusetts. he new he was running for president even before he started running for president. so i give him a little sympathy. >> and it's a also -- i think -- it's worth pointing out

the difference because in al gore's case, he won. i would be a little hurt over the whole process too if i won, and didn't get to be president. romney had no chance. and he was so sheltered and protected that when the reality caught up with him, i imagine that was a bit of a stinger. >> jamal: and it has got to hurt the family too. tagg wanted to punch the president. and it really hurt ann romney. >> i'm like a she lion when it comes to protecting mitt romney. [ lion roaring ]

[ laughter ] >> jamal: that's awesome. you know it is hard on the family. but ann romney should just get back to the horses. >> yeah. >> jamal: you think about michelle obama on jimmy kimmel doing the mom dance. can you imagine ann romney trying to do the mom dance. >> dancing with the stars invited her to be on this season, and she turned them down. >> never in a trillion years could i picture that. >> yeah, and i think she said she actually considered it for a hot second and then turned them down. >> jamal: yeah megan mccain did it, didn't she -- no one of the palin daughters. >> bristol. >> jamal: bristol palin. >> and tucker carlson. >> jamal: i just want to make sure they impress on sasha and

malia that going on "dancing with the stars" is not the way to spend your post white house years. all right. this is our first bit thank you for having us here this morning. i am jamal simmons, call us at 866-55-press 866-557-7377. we will be right back after these messages. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv. >> has the time finally come for real immigration reform? >> with a distinctly satirical point of view. if you believe in state's rights but still believe in the drug war you must be high. >> only on current tv.

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support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. ♪

>> heard around the country and seen on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> jamal: good morning, welcome back to the "bill press show," this is jamal simmons, sitting here with my good friend peter ogburn, dan henning, and we have phil and siprion helping us out on the boards. we did a little bit of mitt romney today, but there is a story that has been going around for the last week or so and i was surprised because yesterday watching the morning shows, there was still a lot of talk about this yahoo story where the new ceo of yahoo has said she is going to end telecom muting. chris matthews talked about -- there was a lot of talk

about this yahoo story and no telecom muting. i work from home a lot, i get it. i grew up in detroit. family were auto workers, these are people who have to go to work -- like i'm sure most of you have to go to work every day. the question is why is the media so fixated on not being able to stay home? if you have an opinion i want you to call us at 866-55-press, 866-557-7377. i think if you work at a place like yahoo you probably make a decent amount of money, if your boss says you have to go to work, you should go to work. >> i'm sort of torn on this. you are right, they are paying them a lot of money.

20 years ago if you would have said i'm just going to stay at home and work, you would have said yeah, right. but it's a different time now. especially with stay at home moms. >> jamal: that's the one place where it makes sense. stay at home moms get your kid ready for school, maybe you come in to work an hour late for some reason, you ought to be able to do that, still check your email, get to the office and not to have to pay a big price for that. >> but there's a big part of me that says go to work. clock in do a little face time with your superiors and coworkers. if you insulate yourself from the whole process at home i wonder -- >> and we do still have a pretty high unemployment rate, so there are a lot of people who would

love to go to work -- >> yeah. >> jamal: who would love to be able to show up to work. my question, though is you have this media empire that is fixated on this in the national media, which it is sort of an interesting thing that yahoo, which was supposed to be one of these places that said here is the new way of doing business. yahoo has decided to go back to an old way of doing business. you guys tell us what you think. you can call us or tweet us us @bp show. so let's talk about that. >> really quick i wanted to get this in. because this is a big, big, big deal. a mississippi baby was born with the aids virus, and that child

appears to have been cured after being treated with an aggressive regimen of drugs. the child was two and a half years old, was born with aids and they have put together this cocktail of drugs that seems to have worked. it's just one case and you never know but it's the first time that they have ever reported this. this could be a very very big deal. >> jamal: this is a big deal. first we'll go to a break right now. i'm jamal simmons, we're the "bill press show." see you back right after this. ♪

criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. >> jamal: good morning this is jamal simmons. i am here for bill press here at the "bill press show." we have a fun morning going on. we have a couple of calls coming in. before we get to the calls, we talked about this yahoo! question that keeps coming up and you are calling us at

866-55-press, 866-557-7377, and @bpshow. gorge steph nop steph nop i wills on and he had dennis rodman on. and he asked for one favor. >> thank you for coming on. >> guess what guess what -- >> don't hate me. >> don't hate me. ing don't hate me, guess what -- don't hate me -- guess what, don't hate me. >> jamal: i think that ought to be the motto at work, things are happening, turn to your wife or husband, guess what don't hate

me. [ laughter ] >> jamal: i loved that. >> dennis rodman had faded off a little bit, but now he is back in full force. >> jamal: it's sort of like she hate me at the usfal. >> yes. we talked about the woman that tried out as a kicker for the jets, and we got some comments about that. in the chat room, laroan says there are some women who as strong and tough as ray lewis. unless she is built like an nfl linebacker, i don't think a woman will want to play football. there are some women who are built like a linebacker.

>> jamal: they are out there. >> joy says women can do anything men can do and even better. what is next peter, no women on the battlefield? >> jamal: you walked yourself into that one. >> well, football is a very physical sport, and so find a woman who could stand up to a hit full on from an nfl linebacker, i think would be very hard to find, and everybody says, hey, this is great and wonderful, and we should let women play football with men. until it happens where she gets hit by an nfl linebacker, and she gets a concussion, or breaks her neck or something horrible happens, and they go what were they doing letting this woman

play football? >> jamal: yeah we'll see if somebody can make the cut. so we'll see. but on the same question we're talking about woman this is women's history month. yesterday was the 100th anniversary of women's suffrage march on washington. so this is women's history month. there is a lot going on. joanne from vernon new jersey who called in about the yahoo story. joanne are you there? >> caller: yes i'm here. >> jamal: tell us what you think? >> caller: why does it have to be all or nothing? >> jamal: okay. >> caller: you have two-income families now. it used to be that somebody was home all day long and could deal

with things that needed to be run around the house or run a kid to the doctor so i think the need for flexibility is a necessity now, not a luxury. >> jamal: i absolutely agree, the need for flexibility is important, but what is interesting is there are lots of jobs where you literally just can't be that flexible. right? if you are supposed to be in the emergency room for your shift as an er nurse, you know, you can't just say you know, what i'm just going to call that in today. >> caller: that's different than working at yahoo but you will have shifts. i work in new york. i live in new jersey. i have a two-hour commute to work, so work from home two days a week. and i get a lot done at home. i can throw a little laundry in

and deal with my conference calls. two-income families when you have both parents working, somebody has to be there to be able to deal with the things that need to be done arrange the house. >> jamal: that's a really good point. and let me ask you this do you find that you work later into the evening? like do you think you work more? or would you work less if you were in the office for eight hours a day? now maybe you work ten, 11 or 12 hours, because you are working kind of sporadically throughout the day? >> caller: yeah, i feel like i have my sanity if i had to drive four hours a day for five day's straight would probably lose my mind. i couldn't do that so this enables me to be much more productive at work and a much better wife and mother at home. >> jamal: that's a good point. because if people are

telecommuting, that means they are not on the highway, that's is a good thing. thank you, joanne. >> i do a lot of work from home. we get here very early and then we leave and continue to book guests from home i freelance for some writing stuff, i do that from home but i will -- because we have young kids, i have one in preschool, who is some days around the house. i'll just get up and leave. and go to the library. >> jamal: do you leave your kid at home. >> i leave him with the dog. the dog is there to help. but there's a lot of distractions at home and when you are at work you are at work. you are working. and when you are at home you are working and you might flip through tv, and strike up a conversation with your spouse.

like there are a lot of distractions at home. we're also getting a lot of comments on this on twitter. honey bear kelly says my boss hates telecommuting even though there is nothing i can do in the office that i can't do at home. michelle says i think it's a bad idea to make people come into the house. the ceo of yahoo that is proposing this she built a nursery at work and screwed over other parents. and ted says yahoo still expects workers to answer emails phone calls, and texts on their own time. >> jamal: so this is where the economy is moving, right? we're supposed to be getting more flexible. there are fewer auto worker jobs, fewer coal miner jobs

fewer people making furniture, so people are going to college now. there's a story last week -- i don't know if you saw this -- i'm sure you did, how even entry-level jobs like answering phones and administrative assistance jobs now require a college degree. so maybe you should have more responsibility and the ability to, you know, work from home, take an hour to handle some personal business if you need to, and then get back at it. >> yeah, i see that. >> jamal: but then i still go back to the people who can't do that, and they kind of get stuck and they have go to work. i think those of us who do have college degrees and have jobs where we can have that kind of flexibility, it means more us to than most of the people in americas who are formers and factory workers and that kind of thing. >> that being said if you were to tell me that somehow they

figured out how to do this from home, i would consider it. [ laughter ] >> jamal: all right. call us back at 866-55-press i'm jamal simmons. this is the "bill press show." good morning. >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show," now on current tv. ♪ (vo) this afternoon, current tv is the place for compelling true stories. >> jack, how old are you? >> nine. >> this is what 27 tons of marijuana looks like. (vo) with award winning documentaries that take you inside the headlines, way inside. (vo) from the underworld, to the world of privilege. >> everyone in michael jackson's life was out to use him. (vo) no one brings you more documentaries that are real, gripping, current.

i think the number one thing that viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us. ♪ >> announcer: on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> jamal: good morning. welcome back to the "bill press show." this is jamal simmons. we are here this morning talking about all kinds of interesting

things. right before our break, peter found a really fun story -- we're not going to play this now, but they found some jimmy hendrix tracks. >> yeah there's a new jimmy hendrix album coming out tomorrow. it is actual studio recording that -- that he did that's coming out. he did it with buddy miles so it's legit. >> jamal: so you should go online and listen to some of this music. i remember two pack died and others, but can you go back and recreate -- i guess you can -- like natalie cole did a

doeset with our dad, who is long gone, nat king cole. so maybe you could have some duet duets. >> yes i'm going to call the shot now, expect to see a jimmy hendrix hendrix hendrix hologram this year. >> jamal: that would be awesome. call us now at 866-55-press we're tweeting @bpshow. we're getting a lot of talk about women playing football in the chat room. there's a really big story going on in america right now.

everybody was talking about it this weekend. the president on friday signed the executive order on sequestration, so we are doing massive cuts -- let's not oversell it -- but for people who are being cut, it's massive. 6, 9% of concern budgets because we're leaving off themedicare and social security. we're also leaving off the board the interest rate on the debt. those are the two or three biggest parts of the budget. so what is on the board are domestic spending cuts and defense spending cuts. but the president talked about it this weekend. >> obama: at a time when our businesses have finally begun to get some traction, hiring new workers, bringing jobs back to america, we shouldn't be making

dumb arbitrary cuts to things that businesses defend on. >> jamal: we're slashing budgets, forcing people to take time off some places 13 days of furlough, some 22 days of furlough, government program directors can't make a lot of decisions. the president can't make a lot of decisions about how to do this in the best way because of the way the law is written this is going to affect the economy. >> i think the administration has done a good job of taking their time and saying this is what is going to happen if sequestration goes through. they brought out the heads of several different agencies ray lahood from transportation who is a republican, and sort of said, this is what will happen.

we will have our hands tied on a lot of things that we should not have our hands tied on and if you think that less government is good, then you don't really understand what is going on here because there are a lot of vital services that are provided by the government that you will lose. and it's the age-old classic problem that certain republicans don't understand the role of government. and no matter how hard barack obama and the administration ties to say we have to have these things republicans refuse to acknowledge it. >> jamal: yes. and by april 1st, you'll start to see some real damage. and people talk about cutting government all the time. but we don't talk about what that actually means, the libraries that will close the national parks people want to go to on vacation this summer, there are all sorts of ways, tsa

talked about whether or not planes will be able to take off at the same rate because there weren't be enough traffic controllers there. >> services for your grandmother and grandfather, seniors depend on a lot of government services. it's tax season. we had someone in here a couple of weeks ago that talked about, you know, it's going to be a lot longer for you to get that tax refund because things aren't being processed as fast as they normally are, and some of these workers aren't working. there are things that the government does that we need them for. >> jamal: absolutely. and we'll have rachel smolkin call in next hour to talk about this. >> the one thing, though that i disagree with the president on very strongly is that when he said the republicans and he need

to sit down and have a jet eye mind meld >> caller: the fact they don't take it means that i should somehow do have a jet eye mind meld. >> first of all it's not a jet eye mind meld it is a jet eye mind trick. and you must be thinking about star wars not star trek. >> jamal: can we nerd out right now? he clearly does not have his sci-fi references in a row, and i had star wars sheets and curtains as a child. and you are might, you have a

jet eye mind meld for a vulcan mind meld. >> that's right, mr. president. >> jamal: okay. cal us at 866-55-press, that's 866-557-7377, and we're here at the "bill press show." i'm jamal simmons, and we'll be back in just a minute. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪ so you can stop intense itch fast wherever you are. i dropped the itch. free yourself from embarrassing scalp itch. drop the itch with maximum strength scalpicin®. also available scalpicin® 2 in 1, itch relief plus dandruff control.

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any topic at anytime. this is the "bill press show." live on your radio, and current tv. >> jamal: good morning, jamal simmons back here. it's the "bill press show," and remember, you can call us at 866-55-press. just got a few emails that are coming in here. this is from dab land if i don't work i don't get paid, no pay and no insurance. and he listens to us on wcpt in chicago on the way to work. so thanks for sticking in. and here is another one, peter you are correct in football. not long ago a women's baseball team put together and they really didn't have a good chance. we'll be right back on the "bill press show."

[♪ theme music ♪] >> jamal: good morning, welcome back to the "bill press show." it is good to be here this morning, sitting in for our fearless leader bill press who is out today. as we think about the sequester, there are so many things going on. $85 billion are going to be cut out of the budget just kind of chopped. 9% here, 6% there, people being furloughed 22 days, sometimes 13

days, sometimes 22 days. they won't get overtime pay, they won't have any showing up at work so it's a pay cut for american workers, for government workers at a time where possibly some have said it could take a half of percent out of the growth rate for the united states. so that's a pretty big deal in this kind of economic environment. right now we see john mccain, and lindsey graham and others all over the airwaves talk about ben -- benghazi about how we're going to get our economy growing, how we are going to make sure we have economic opportunity and i think the see questions ration is one of the things standing in the way of being able to have that. we'll be right back on the "bill press show." ♪

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you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation, on your radio, and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> jamal: good morning, everyone. we have had a great morning so far. we have the calls coming in to 866-55-press, that's 866-557-7377. we want to hear more from you about all of the things that we're talking about this morning. we're talking sequestration. we're talking about dennis rodman, our north korean ambassador, remember, don't hate him. and we're talking about mitt

romney who had a big show on fok -- fox news yesterday. but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> jamal: >> good morning, it looks like jay leno's late-night reign will be coming to an end again. jimmy fallon will take over in 2013. 2013. 2013. leno's ratings has taken a hit in the last ratings. >> jamal: i'll believe it when i see it. >> the onion has ceased the

opportunity to stop mocking itself. it posted a satire piece says the onion, quote, has never been more popular, more beloved or more respected than it has in the last five or six days as it has constituted a high water mark for the company. >> jamal: dan got quvenzhene wallace's name right. >> i pronounce it different every time. [ laughter ] >> and super bowl champion quarterback is going to sign a $120 million contract today over six years. it's a guaranteed $51 million coming his way in the first two years alone.

that's the most lucrative deal for an nfl player ever. a big pay raise for flacco his base salary this year was a mere $6.7 million. >> jamal: a mere. that's american money. >> i know our call screener is very excited, he is a big ravens fan, but that's a lot of money. >> he is no longer a rookie though, and he won the super bowl. >> i hope they still have enough money to take care of everybody else that got them that win, not just flacco. >> jamal: we have been talking about the sequestration and all of the impact on the american

economy on government workers, what is going to happen next but we're going to bring in someone who i think can give us a pretty good run downon what is really happening here in washington, let's bring it rachel smolkin. good morning. >> good morning, thanks for sl having me. >> jamal: thank you for slumming with me. >> my pleasure. >> jamal: we're do our best to treat your right while bill is out. what is happening right now? the president signed the executive order, it's month morning, and what? >> two things seem to be emerging. the first is that the era of austerity may actually be here.

it seems that the air of austerity might have actually finally arrived to the beltway. the next is that neither party wants to risk a government shutdown over the sequester so the threat of brinksmanship may be easing up. but it seems like both sides don't really have a desire for a huge fight right now. we have our next potential fiscal crisis coming up right away, and that's the bill that keeps the lights on and government running expires march 27th. so there was some thought that that could be another showdown over the sequester, but both the president and the house speaker have said they don't want that

to happen. >> i was talking to someone who lives outside of washington, d.c., and they said they are not that concerned because they always get a deal at the last minute, and that's been the way that it has gone for the last couple of major crises here. but it didn't happen and we just ran full on into the sequester. so are the sequester cuts here to stay? or are they going to find a way to work through this? >> that is a great question and nobody really knows the answer to that. and there are a couple of ways this could play out is the sequester might be here to stay. president obama has said that he wants to keep pressing for change but it could take months. so in his news conference

friday, we signalled this might be around for a while, and then there are the unknown variables, will the economy start to take a turn for the worst? there could be come other game-changing event that forces everyone back to the table, and they could still use the resolution that is coming up for a short-term fix. to put more money in for defense funding, for example. we know there will be a lot of pressure from voters in places like northern virginia california, and maryland and if there are layoffs that could increase the pressure. so a lot of unknowns about this at this point. >> jamal: it's very interesting that you just talked about the

northern virginia d.c. maryland de novo area. this is one of the things about this sequester that is a pretty big deal. the people here in washington the staff members for many of these congressional members, they will be living in the midst of this impact. the contractors around here -- we could see a pretty big impact in the delmarva area right? >> we could. the sequester is not going to hit the whole country evenly. the washington and virginia area could be hate fairly hard by this. but our area was hit relatively

easily by the recession than the rest of the country felt. >> jamal: right. and we have to wait to see what happens in the country while pressure builds up by the republicans, is that how -- >> that's right. president obama wants to keep up the campaign about warning about how bad the cuts will be, but trying to keep the pressure on the republicans. he has also got a pretty full domestic agenda of items he wants to start to push on, such as gun control, and immigration and climate change. and if he is focusing all of his energy into undoing the sequester, it pushes back those items. if we believe the sequester in place, and don't go to this next round of brinksmanship over it

does free up the president and his staff to focus on some other issues. >> jamal: that's a very big point. the president talked about immigration reform obviously the tragedy in connecticut brought gun control and gun safety issues back to the forefront. there are some other stories out right now about judges and the president trying to push up a raft of judges into the lower courts, and trying to get them confirmed. there are a lot of issues on the ballot for the federal administration and congress, right? >> that's right. and if the president wants any movement at all on them pretty quickly we're into the next election cycle. there is not a lot of time in washington before everything

kicks back into election cycle again. >> jamal: i haven't -- maybe i just got my credit card bills from the inauguration -- >> that's right, as soon as you pay those you have to start getting ready for the midterms. that's it. >> jamal: yes, it's ridiculous. we see what is going on at the white house, but are members of congress just sitting around their office kind of playing darts or are they thinking about ideas to get the government going? >> they would not describe it that way, but the republican party right now -- we're seeing some pulling at the seems in terms of which direction to go but they really did stick around, house speaker john boehner has taken on the

strategy that we are not going to budge on revenues. we gave you your revenues in the last fiscal fight, and now we're done with that. so one reason we didn't see any movement over the sequester, is that each side is just really in their corner on this because that's their strategy and they are not budging from it. >> jamal: wow, that's -- one last question. do the republicans actually have -- other than this budget issue, do they have any legislative agenda. >> cutting spending is a big issue for them. they feel like cutting taxes, cutting spending tax reform these budget terry issues are very important right now.

but immigration soot important issue to many lawmakers in the republican party and of all of the issues we have been talking about, that's still the one that looks like it has the best chance to get some kind of agreement. lots of issues remain in the details large and small but we seem to be at a moment where there's a desire to get something done there. >> jamal: all right. rachel smolkin, you can find her on twitter or check out politico.com. thank you for coming in. >> thanks so much. >> jamal: good to have you. >> take care. >> jamal: all right. thank you. i'm jamal simmons, this is the "bill press show." we'll see you right back here. call us at 866-55-press 866-557-7377. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio, and current tv. ♪

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this show is about analyzing criticizing, and holding policy to the fire. are you encouraged by what you heard the president say the other night? is this personal or is it political? a lot of my work happens by to doing anyway. staying in tough with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. not only does senator rubio just care about rich people but somehow he thinks raising the minimum wage is a bad idea for the middle class. but we do care about them, right? vo: the war room tonight at 6 eastern

♪ >> announcer: is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and on current tv. >> jamal: welcome back to the "bill press show." good morning. my name is jamal simmons i'm obviously not bill press. >> what! >> jamal: our leader is off today, but we are here because we did not get furloughed for the sequestration. you can call us at 866-55-press. that's 866-557-7377. and we have a couple of calls that have come in. let's go first to our new allan?

new bedford, massachusetts. >> caller: good morning. i just read online that now obama is going to be tossing social security and medicare into the pot to try to stop this sequestration? >> jamal: that obama is throwing in social security and medicare? >> caller: yeah from what i read online this morning, he has tossed those in. >> jamal: i haven't seen that yet. >> i haven't either. >> jamal: but we'll take a look and see if that is happening. i know the democrats are definitely -- the president has said he is willing to change cpi, as they call it how you value the benefits what rate you use for increases, but before they talk about that, the republicans are going to have to come back and talk about revenue increases, and they are willing to say tax loopholes they will close, and you know what is

interesting, that -- not john mccain but what is his friend's name -- lindsey graham? lindsey graham in south carolina said he won't talk about revenue raisers for new government programs, so if we are going to do deficit control, maybe there's some way to put new tax money -- closing loopholes to cut down the receivedeficit. let's go to our next caller jay in los angeles. >> caller: good morning. >> jamal: are you coming home from work, or going to work -- >> caller: i'm at work. >> jamal: wow. you talk about the midnight shift. thanks for being with us. >> caller: no problem. all i want to say is the president done -- all he can do. all they are doing is stalling

because they don't want to give him his political victories. he got all the facts. as soon as they say the american people, they are lying. so it's over. they need just the media to give him his political victories and let things turn around for the better, because we already see that there ain't nothing he can do, and we already see where they are coming from. and it's that simple. i ain't not nothing else to say. it's that simple. [ laughter ] >> jamal: thank you, jay. thank you. question, this is a big deal this sequestration. we're seeing it a lot. >> yeah, and one of the things that is worth our conversation on it is a lot of people are just confused as to what it means. >> that's a good point.

>> you have some republicans saying it's no big deal. you have some that say yeah it is a big deal but you won't see any of this stuff for a while. and then you have other people saying this is then of the world. literally the end of the world. so it's important to sort of dig in, find out what is being cut, and what it means, and that's what we're trying to do here. >> jamal: remember you can call us at 866-55-press. that's 866-557-7377, and we're on twitter @bpshow. thank you, we'll be right back. >> announcer: stephanie miller. this is the bill show. ♪

bs'ing them with some hidden agenda, actually supporting one party or the other. when the democrats are wrong, they know that i'm going to be the first one to call them out. they can question whether i'm right, but i think that the audience gets that this guy, to the best of his ability, is trying to look out for us.

♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/bill press. this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> jamal: good morning, i'm jamal simmons, and i am sitting in for bill press who is out. i'm here with our wonderful team who is holding my hand through another morning of guest hosting. >> oh, come on now. >> jamal: peter ogburn dan henning and siprion bolling. >> you're doing a fine job over there, sir. happy to have you in. >> jamal: just remember if i make any mistakes don't hate me. the wore -- words of our friend

dennis rodman. >> guess what don't hate guess what, don't hate me. >> jamal: next we have joining us former on the phone -- former special assistance to president obama and executive director of the white house office of faith base and neighborhood partnerships, joshua dubois. are you there? >> hey, it's great to be on with you. >> jamal: good morning, welcome to the "bill press show." >> nothing says faith and politics like dennis rodman. [ laughter ] >> i would think there were some officials that were praying that dennis rodman didn't start an international incident. >> no comment on that. [ laughter ] >> jamal: you were with the

president when he was a united states senator, right? >> that's right. i have been honored to walk this road with president obama for a long time. i joined him when he was elected to the senate in 2005 and then on to the 2008 campaign, and four years in the white house, and now it's on to other adventures. but i'm just so honored to have been a part of the president's journey. >> jamal: so here is the real question. are you tired? >> i have been sleeping for like 96 hours straight. [ laughter ] >> yeah, it was a wonderful journey, but it was a lot of work, and one good thing about leaving the white house is you get a little bit more rest. >> jamal: yeah welcome back back to the land of the vacations public who gets to have some weekends off and taking a little time for our friends and families. >> absolutely. >> jamal: so tell me -- tell me when you were in the white

house -- talk a little bit about what you did while you were there, and what you think they'll do the next person that comes in -- do we know who the next person is going to be? >> no, it hasn't been announced yet. my job -- the president asked me to make sure though white house and the entire government was partnering with faith-based groups that were serving people in need. so we created programs from everything to hunger and housing and employment, to serve people who were going through some things, and built a robust network of those things all across the government. and secondarily, i also helped the president cultivate his own religious journey. and this is a president of deep christian faith, and he believes

people of all faiths have an important role in life. >> jamal: so you helped the president decides he wants to go to church. i don't know does he call you on like a wednesday or is it like saturday afternoon and he is like, you know what, josh? i'm thinking about church in the morning? [ laughter ] >> it's somewhere in between the two. probably around thursday or friday i'll normally get a call. >> all right. so you have got to figure out where to take the president to church. and that can be kind of a risky deal. we know what happened the first time around, so do you have a list of pastors that you have been paying at attention to, and you know who they are and the feel of the service and you think here is a good place for us to go?

>> fortunately we have a wonderful church in st. john's episcopal church which is kind of right across the street from the white house. and so the president will often walk over there with the first lady and the girls, and head right on in to first there. so this -- the beautiful worship there, reverend leon's powerful message and the fact that it is right around the corner make that a frequented spot. the challenge is less with theology than with lodgist ticks. because the president is obviously a pretty popular guy. and when he goes to church the whole city goes to church with him. and there will be lines around the block. so that is something the president is very sensitive too,

so he often will go to st. john's episcopal to minimize the headaches on other folks in the district. >> jamal: oh, i bet. i have gotten emails from email talking about hey, the president is going to church tomorrow morning, got to get there early. >> exactly. [ laughter ] >> jamal: so josh you talked about your daily meditations with the president. there has been some reporting around this. are you planning on doing something next around kind of your own ideas about daily meditations? >> yes, absolutely. so i have been honored to hold these for the president for the last few years, so i'm putting some of these devotionals together for americans around the country, and sharing twhem others in case it's helpful to

every day leaders who are starting their morning. it's called "the president's devotional," and it will be coming out sometime later in the fall. >> jamal: that's great. gook good luck with that. and bill press, who is a big author around here and don't forget his book "the obama hate machine." >> a little plug. [ laughter ] >> jamal: you'll probably rely more on your devotionals and book-writing process as much as the people you have been recommending them to. >> absolutely. >> jamal: let's talk a little bit about policy. you have been at the intersection between government and faith institutions. do you see a place where the sequestration and the budget-cutting that is taking place is going to impact some of the partnerships that you worked on while you were in the

administration? >> i do, because i think the sequestration and in indiscriminate -- serving people that quite frankly don't have a lot of margin to absorb that burden, are going to be folks who are waiting longer for certain services. there will be a greater need for after school programs and so forth, and the endtities that are going to have to step up with faith based and community-based organizations and that's a sector that is overburdened. >> jamal: and what other thing that was a big priority of the president -- we have two fathers that are sitting here with -- peter and dan are both dads -- >> dan doesn't have any children. >> no.

>> oh, i i'm sorry i messed that up. >> praise the lord for that but i have two kids who may even be scarier. >> jamal: but you talked about fatherhood and what is the take of that. >> absolutely. the issue of father absenttism is very important to the president. he grew up with a wonderful single mom but his dad wasn't around in his life, and the president often speaks of this issue, and encourages dads to step up to the plate, but he is also providing support and solutions for fathers who want to do a better job. he announced something called promise zones in chicago, which

are zones of support to address poverty in high poverty areas, and a big part of that is supporting fathers who want to get back on the right track, and we work are thousands of local organizations to provide pathways for dads who want to learn how to be there for their kids. it's a critically important issue, and the president always comes back to the issue of fatherhood. >> i thought it was interesting not that long ago when michelle was asked about the president's gray hair, and she said it doesn't have to do with leading the free world it has to do with he has two daughters, and one of them is dating age. [ laughter ] >> that's right. i think he quickly defaults to

his friends in the secret service for a very large weapon when the conversation turns to dating. [ laughter ] >> jamal: i would imagine. i have to give a special thank you to joshua on the air, because i worked in the clinton administration, and joshua was the first person to invite me to a sit down lunch in the white house mess. and thank you, joshua for that. i will always remember that. >> it is my honor, jammal. any time i can come on to your show you are hosting or bill press's show i'm here. let me know. >> jamal: thank you. thank you for joining us for our sunday hangover. this is the "bill press show." >> announcer: radio meets

television. the "bill press show," now on current tv. ♪ iq will go way up. (vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv.

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stop taking chantix and call your doctor right away. tell your doctor about any history of depression or other mental health problems which could get worse while taking chantix. don't take chantix if you've had a serious allergic or skin reaction to it. if you develop these stop taking chantix and see your doctor right away as some can be life-threatening. if you have a history of heart or blood vessel problems tell your doctor if you have new or worse symptoms. get medical help right away if you have symptoms of a heart attack. use caution when driving or operating machinery. common side effects include nausea trouble sleeping and unusual dreams. with chantix and with the support system it worked. it worked for me. [ male announcer ] ask your doctor if chantix is right for you. current tv, it's been all building up to this. >>bill shares his views, now it's your turn. >>i know you're going to want to weigh in on these issues. >>connect with "full court press with bill press" at facebook.com/billpressshow and on twitter at bpshow. >>i believe people are hungry for it.

♪ >> announcer: radio meets television, the "bill press show." now on current tv. >> jamal: good morning, welcome back to the "bill press show." i am jamal simmons and we are -- i am sitting in for bill press this morning, who is out today, but i am happy to be here, and we are talk about all of these amazing things going on in the world. we have sequestration, we had dennis rodman on a morning show the worm in full regalia of

tattoos and piercings, was first of all an emma -- emissary to north korea -- >> wait a minute, it is unusual. >> jamal: it's unusual. but he has spent more time with kim than any. >> it's amazing. >> jamal: apparently he was not well briefed about any of the problems that occurred in north korea, so george took it upon himself to talk him through some of these problems. rodman admitted he didn't know what was going on and he just wanted to make sure the country didn't blame him. >> guess what, don't hate me -- guess what, don't hate me. >> jamal: i love that. so that just keeps.

i love that. but we also saw yesterday morning on the sunday shows, we saw -- our old friend came back. we have missed him -- maybe. >> well? [ laughter ] >> jamal: mitt romney -- mitt and ann romney were both on fox news sunday talking about what it was like and mitt confessed to something about what it was like the moments before -- on election day. >> we were convinced that we would win. we saw that the polls were very close, but we new the energy and passion was with our voters and my heart said we were going to win. >> it's amazing they are still talking about polls being close this far after the election because the polls weren't that close. >> jamal: they weren't. >> all of this talk -- no they were never close. legitimate, real reputable were not close!

>> jamal: and you would think that he would have a little bit more blame -- he does take responsibility for his own problems in the campaign but they had an entire operation built on an electorate that hasn't existed since 1988. their assumption about who was going to show up in the polls, not enough african-americans, latinos, young people, women, and he just couldn't seem to come to grips with the fact that there's a few america taking hold, and it is multi-racial. >> it is. and it is oddly satisfying to sit back and watch that interview, and know that dennis rodman is probably a better ambassador to the united states than mitt romney at this point. [ laughter ] >> jamal: absolutely. but it's not the fault of the electorate. who's fault was it?

>> he was not being given a fair shake. people were not able to see who he really was. >> jamal: and who's fault is that? the medias. i think -- maybe some of you agree with me -- mitt romney five years of watching him on television, hearing him on the radio, reading him in the newspaper, we got a pretty fair sense of who he was. >> yes. yes. yes! and also the idea that we didn't get to see the real him. we saw the unfiltered video of him talking about the 47% of americans, when he didn't realize that he was sort of in public? okay. so is that the real mitt romney? because we don't like him very much either. the beautiful thing about failure is you have the opportunity to learn something if you fail. if you fail and you fall down,

you learn something. they haven't learned the first thing. he is still blaming the media, he didn't get a chance to give his real self. he is paying that the polls were close. he didn't learn anything! >> jamal: what most people do when they lose is pick apart the loss. figure out what happed? like you weren't to figure out what is going on. not mitt romney. it's not his own calling the tea. it's everyone else's fault. >> yeah, blame everything else. >> jamal: thank you for joining us on the "bill press show." we are going to break, and we will see you here in a fewing minutes. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." ♪

(vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. (vo) she's joy behar. >>current will let me say anything.

♪ >> announcer: this is the "full court press," the "bill press show," live on your radio, and on current tv. >> jamal: good morning. it's monday morning, march 4th, and this is jamal simmons sitting in for bill press on the "bill press show." lots going on. sequester starts today. the first full workday of the sequester period, so we'll hear a lot more over the coming days and weeks about what happens with sequester. a lot going on this weekend. we talked about mitt romney and dennis rodman, and all sorts of things on then sunday shows, but it's a new week and the president is taking off. >> indeed. the president didn't even really

leave the white house this weekend, this morning pretty quiet day as well. 9:30 he receives the presidential daily briefly, then he has meeting which vice president biden will be in attendance for. and that is it. i would imagine the president is keeping his schedule pretty free these days so he can talk to leaders about what will happen with sequester. >> jamal: and they are talked about a couple of appointments that may be coming along soon, so there is a lot going on behind the scenes. >> yes. >> jamal: all right. we'll be right back after these messages. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

[♪ thehememe musicic♪]] >> jamal: good morning welcome back to the "bill press show." this is jamal simmons sitting in for bill press here on monday march 4th. there is a lot going on. we talked a lot about what is happening on the morning shows and one of the things people talked about is bob woodward versus gene sperling. bob woodward said he felt threatened. and he cautioned words like you

are going to regret this. but then we got ahold of the emails, and what we found is gene sperling, who is not someone one would think of as threatening, gene said to him, as a friend i apologize for my har. tone, and i would like to say you will regret using these theories that you have been putting out talk about the president and sequestration. you will regret that. so that is something that woodward took as a threat. and he thought it was inappropriate to use that language. what that says to me is a couple of things. is woodward actually being too thin skinned? i don't know. you be the judge. we'll be right back on the "bill press show." ♪

(vo) current tv gets the converstion started weekdays at 9am eastern. >> i'm a slutty bob hope. >> you are. >> the troops love me. (vo) tv and radio talk show host stephanie miller rounds out current's morning news block. >> you're welcome current tv audience for the visual candy. just be grateful current tv does not come in smellivision. the sweatshirt is nice and all but i could use a golden lasso. (vo) only on current tv. in brookside chocolate a world of remarkable tastes comes together. rich, dark chocolate meets sweetened soft centers flavored with exotic fruit juices, like pomegranate goji with raspberry, and acai with blueberry. it's chocolate like you've never experienced it before. and it comes from a place called brookside. discover brookside.

you know who is coming on to me now? you know the kind of guys that do reverse mortgage commercials? those types are coming on to me all the time now. (vo) she gets the comedians laughing and the thinkers thinking. >>ok, so there's wiggle room in the ten commandments, that's what you're saying. you would rather deal with ahmadinejad than me. >>absolutely. >> and so would mitt romney. (vo) she's joy behar. >>and the best part is that current will let me say anything. what the hell were they thinking?

♪ >> announcer: broadcasting across the nation on your radio and on current tv this is the "bill press show." >> jamal: good morning, welcome back to the "bill press show," my name is jamal simmons, and we have been having a pretty good morning here this morning with my good friend peter ogburn. >> hey, hey, hey. >> jamal: good morning and dan henning in the booth. >> good morning. >> jamal: good morning, and we have phil becker and siprion bolling who are also helping us out. you don't have microphones so we just get to talk about you, but not hear from you. >> i would like to apologize as producer of the show that we

didn't book dennis rodman. [ laughter ] >> jamal: here is a question was that stephnopolus sitting around thinking this will be fun or was it the producer thinking this would be fun? >> on one of the shows where america tunes in to see what is happening in this country, dennis rodman was on wearing a jacket with money printed on it and talking about his trip to meet one of the weirdest world leaders that exists. >> guess what -- don't hate me, guess what don't hate me. [ laughter ] >> jamal: this is the last hour of the "bill press show" this morning. later we'll hear from the

economy policy correspondent for the "washington post," and we're here -- i'm jamal simmons again, and you can get me on twitter @jamal simmons. and the show's twitter handle is is @bpshow. you can listen to us and always like us on facebook facebook@billpressshow, our phone number here is 866-55-press, that's 866-557-7377. and we'll hear all of that but first -- >> announcer: this is the "full court press." >> overhead lines making news on this monday myth and ann romney

were also on the sunday shows. ann romney talking about turning down the office to be on dancing with the stars on nbc. she said she did consider doing it for a short time, but then thought it may not be the best thing for her, now that dorothy hamel is on the show mrs. romney is glad she will not have to compete against her. >> that is good news. one good decision from the romney family. >> yeah finally. >> laura silverman's attempt to be the first kicker in the nfl. she was invited to try out for the new york jets. she injured her leg while trying out. she kicked just two kickoff tries, and they went for a combined 30 yards. 16 yards on the first kick. 14 yards on the second kick. whereas normally if you kick it into the end zone that's a

70-yard kickoff? . >> jamal: in fairness she hurt herself, right? >> yeah. i said earlier -- and i stand by it. i don't think that women should be playing football with men. i don't. it's too physical as a sport, and as we like to be feminists and inclusive -- look women are smarter than men, they are tougher than men on a lot of level, but the next that a woman gets hit by an nfl linebacker -- >> jamal: this raises a question. do you think there will ever be a woman coach in the nfl? >> that's an interesting take. >> jamal: there's no physical interact interact shun in being a coach.

>> yeah, i don't know of any -- look, i don't want to say no, that it won't ever happen but who knows, but there are no women that know the level on a national level -- >> jamal: women no games -- >> be careful -- >> that i know of. i mean part of football is, you know, a lot of the great coaches once played, and i don't know of any women who played and know the game as well. if i'm wrong, please let me know. >> jamal: i'm sure you will. [ laughter ] >> but who knows. >> it looks like jay leno's late night reign at nbc is coming to an end again. the next season will len o's last. his ratings have taken a hit since jimmy kimmel moved into

his time slot to compete with him and david letterman. >> jamal: one of the funniest -- kimmel is hilarious, and did you see the matt damon episode, where he had kimmel tied up in the back. >> oh yeah. >> jamal: leno can't complete with that. >> it's a totally different game for late night hosts out there, and leno is kind of a dinosaur. fallen is doing better. >> jamal: yeah and i guess we'll get more mom dancing. [ laughter ] >> jamal: then there's a question about who then takes over fallen's slot and one suspicion is maybe, tina fey. >> really? >> i hadn't heard the. >> jamal: she signed a four year

contract with nbc and one of the ideas is she may come in as the late, late night -- >> that would be cool. >> jamal: it's interesting because there hasn't been a women late night host. >> there was joan rivers, and that didn't go over that well. >> jamal: yeah, bossy pants every night. [ laughter ] >> jamal: there was a march -- this was the anniversary -- the annual march across the edmond bridge in montgomery which celebrates the day that some were beaten walking across the bridge. it was one of the biggest parts of the civil rights -- in 1963. it was one of the biggest parts

of the civil rights movement. and yesterday was a big commemoration of that. and vice president biden went down to participate in the march. here is what he said. >> i regret -- though it's not part of what i'm supposed to say -- apologize. it took me 48 years to get here. i should have been here. [ cheers ] >> i should have been here. >> jamal: right. it was 1965. i did get that number wrong. so biden regretted it and then he went on to talk a little bit more. >> courage and determination in the name of justice always always prevails but it takes men and women as individuals to demonstrate that courage for it to happen. >> jamal: wow. so joe biden goes down there, and i have to say as a political

staffer when he started talking about apologizing, the first part of that is this is not in my prepared remarks, and i have got to think if you work for joe biden, and he says this is not in my prepared remarks, that is got to be one of the big moments in your life where you are nervous about what comes next. >> yeah. >> jamal: but he apologized for not coming earlier, which makes me think that he is spending a little time focusing on communities he might need to be taking care of. who knows? maybe there is something he is interested in doing in 2016. >> what could that be? the presidential campaign is

underway. earlier today on the today show jeb bush was on and matt lawyer asked him if he had plans for 2016, and jeb bush says i won't rule that out, essentially. it's on the table. >> jamal: what is interesting about that is one of my favorite books the -- will -- now that i'm on the air i'm blanking on it, but the book about -- >> "what it takes." >> jamal: what it takes. it's the 1988 campaign they talk about the bush family, and joe biden running for president, and here we are still thinking about who is going to run in 2016 and who is going to run. and the big name above all is hilary. >> it will be fascinating to see

what happens if hillary clinton says, i want it. i want to run. because you have got sort of a couple of democrats lining up. i mean joe biden has made it pretty clear he would like to be president, so he wants to run. you have a couple of other names that have been out there for a while. >> right. >> jamal: governor o'malley. >> right that have been out there. if she says i want to run -- somebody last week said if she says she wants to run, it would clear the field. >> jamal: that might be true except for maybe o'malley. >> yeah. >> jamal: hilary probably needs a little bit of a competition just so she doesn't take it off easy. so we'll see. biden did a good job down there.

the pictures looked good from it. yesterday was the 100th anniversary of the women's suffrage march in washington. there is a call about that in the "washington post" yesterday, and about the first black woman's sorority to be involved in one of those kinds of things. so this is a big moment in history. >> yeah, absolutely. >> jamal: you can call us at 866-55-press. that's 866-557-7377. tweet us @bpshow. >> announcer:ing heard around the country and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show." real, gripping, current. on current tv.

john fugelsang: if you believe in states rights but still support the drug war you must be high. cenk uygur: i think the number one thing viewers like about the young turks is that we're honest. i think the audience gets that i actually mean it. michael shure: this show is about being up to date so a lot of my work happens by doing the things that i am given to doing anyway. joy behar: you can say anything here. jerry springer: i spent a couple of hours with a hooker joy behar: your mistake was writing a check jerry springer: she never cashed it (vo) the day's events. four very unique points of view. tonight starting at 6 eastern. ♪

>> announcer: this is the "bill press show." >> jamal: good morning welcome back to the "bill press show." my name is jamal simmons. i have the great pleasure of sitting here in for bill press with all of my good friends, peter and dan and phil and siprion. >> thanks for being here. >> jamal: thank you for having me. it has been fun. we have one call that just came in from ralph from port st. lucy down in florida. mel is on the line. >> caller: i got a quick one.

the president looks little sad. he should play a little bit of his illinois politics, and reverse. he really needs to go to the steps of the congress when them jokers come to work. they have not passed a jobs bill, a infrastructure bill they have not did nada nothing. and the president needs to tell the american people a lot of them don't know nothing about politics, but they ought to know these guys worked 160, 165 days a week. he needs to tell the american people these guys don't care. they are trying to bury them. he needs to wake up and tell the american people what they have did, and that is nothing. y'all have a most beautiful day.

>> jamal: all right, mel, thank you for calling in. >> rack him. what a call. >> jamal: that's one retiree i don't think you want to mess with. >> no, sir. >> jamal: john boehner was on some of the shows this weekend. he also talked about having some concerns about whether or not the sequester will really hurt. >> i don't know whether it is going to hurt the economy or not. i don't think anyone quite understands how the sequester is really going to work. >> jamal: so he passed it. he advocated to his members to pass the sequester. he doesn'ting know what will happen, yet he was a supporter of it and -- and he won't do anything to stop it and we know the economy is in a tough

position. some economists have said it could cost us half of a percentage point, and yet the republicans in the house won't do anything to stop it. at what point do the republicans have to muscle up and become part of the governing process here, or will they just continue to be furnished -- and maybe he is just afraid for his own job? >> that i think is part of it because there were some members that said basically if john boehner finds compromise on sequestration, he will lose his speakership, and i imagine he's probably pretty scared that if he was to find some sort of a deal that -- save -- i don't want to make it so drastic as to say it's saving the country, but

save some face here and got a deal done that was good for everybody, the far right-wing of his party would not let him forget about it. >> jamal: and the president has said he is willing to make some compromises, and that means raising revenue, but the speaker had an opinion about raising revenue. >> the discussion about revenue in my view is over. >> jamal: so the speaker believes that we don't have to do anything on the revenue side, that the wealthy are paying enough, that the tax code the way it works, is the way it works. there's no way we can solve this problem without raising more money. and he points to the president ageing to a tax raise earlier this year in january, but that was less than what boehner

himself proposed last year. so i think we have a little bit more room to grow on raising revenues, but obviously we have to cut too. >> yeah that's right. >> jamal: one of the big issues on the deficit on health care costs. so i think the president's focus own health care reform will ultimately help bring us some money down the road. >> it will be interesting to see what the end game is going to be here, because i don't think anybody is going to accept these sequester cuts as permanent cuts. >> jamal: all right. we'll see what happens. we're here on the bill press. we'll see you in just a few minutes. we have great caller calling in. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show."

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♪ >> announcer: chatting with you live at current.com/billpress this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> jamal: good morning, welcome back to the "bill press show," i am jamal simmons sitting in for bill press. thank you for joining us. i think we have had a good morning here and it has been my pleasure to hang out with some pretty good guys. >> nice job here. >> jamal: thank you. if i mess it up, just don't hate me. [ laughter ] >> jamal: we have economic policy respondent with the "washington post," jim

tankersley. jim, are you here? >> i am, good morning. >> good morning. thanks for joining us. bill is out today, but i am here, and i have got the whole team sitting here talking. so thank you for being here. this is the first day of the first sequester of the 21st century. [ laughter ] >> jamal: tell us what you think is going on. >> well nothing is super big going on so far. that's -- that's the big take out here, but no one expected it to be. the economy is still functioning, i expect the stock market to open today and not plummet, and i expect that we won't see thousands of people out of jobs today. but we will start seeing people with furlough notices, contracts will be canceled. there will be some on the ground

things, but this is all going to take time to come through and in particular it is going to take time to work its way into cutting into the economy. >> jamal: jim, here is what is interesting to me. there's -- we are actually cutting $4 trillion out of the budget if you -- if you -- out of the budget deficit, if you add up all of the cuts so far that have been passed the current sequester cut, and the tax exploration, the fact that the president allowed taxes to go up again, so if all of those things are happening, do economists care about this $4 trillion we're losing out of the budget? is it going to help or hurt?

>> yes, right? it depends on what kind of economist you are, but almost all economic models that you talk to economists about, government spending -- government spending is part of the equation for gdp, so when you reduce government spending, you necessarily will reduce the growth rate of the country. we are looking at some real economic damage here between [ inaudible ] and the point of growth depending on which forecaster you talk to. that's on top of a point and a half growth of what happened with the fiscal cliff. these are short-return effects. the long-run question is will the reduction in the debt -- the budget deficit, and the national debt, will that be enough to bring confidence to people who

night not have been hiring because they were worried about their taxes going way up in the future. and that's where i think that washington has imagined to hit an amazingly terrible sweet spot. if you are an [ inaudible ] economist, you say absolutely as bad as the short run, and none of the conservative economists look at this and say it is enough. >> jamal: so that means that this big fear that we have had about a bond crisis in the united states, similar to greece or spain, that big fear is not going to be solved by the cuts we're going to be experiencing right now? >> no, i don't think so. there is very little evidence of that sort of crisis growing right now. interest rates are very low, and

we're a safe haven for the world right now, and so our interest rate is really low. but if you believe that there could be such a crisis the thing you are really worried about is healthcare costs blowing up the budget, and again, we're doing almost nothing in all of the cuts to address the big rise in healthcare costs which of course democrats will want to strengthen the affordable care act more and republicans would like something like the ryan plan. >> h >> jamal: in the ryan plan it's really about lowering the benefits for medicare beneficiaries, either by raising the age or that sort of thing, but that doesn't get at the raise in healthcare costs.

so if you delay their end try on to medicare they still have healthcare problems we're just transferring that from a government's budget to someone else's private budget. >> yes, but the conservative response to that is that by pushing more people on to a competitive healthcare market the market will bring down costs. that's the big hope there. >> jamal: because we have had a competitive health care market for the last 20 or 30 years. >> our healthcare market is not a well-functioning market. and could you construction? but, yeah, your point is correct, if all you did was shift costs from a public ledger to a private ledger, you would still have a big economic

problem. >> jamal: other than republican's plan about medicare, have they come up with ways to reform the private health care market that would lower costs? >> there is an interesting paper that came out a week or two ago. one of the ott-- authors said republicans should work to make changes and essentially make them much more market oriented and harness the pow er of that to improve the market. it's the first big new idea i have seen after the election, and i expect we'll see a lot more of those. >> this is a challenge for republicans, because they fight anything that smells of obamacare, but many of these

proposals came out of the conservative-leading think tanks, so maybe they ought to try to create something that would help fix the country if they could get over the politics, right? >> right. health care is a really important issue short and long term. it is eating up a huge amount of our natural resources, and we have to do something about that. it's an important conversation to have in conjunction with the budget, because like we said earlier, you could do all of this deficit reduction and if healthcare costs rise faster than we expect them to you wipe it all out, basically. >> jamal: one more question before we go. let's get back to the sequester for a second. we have these cuts that have gone in now. what will happen at the end of this fiscal year? do these cuts stay locked in or can we go back to previous

budget rate? >> the sequester is a ten-year deal, so this is here to stay. now, again, they don't have to be here to state. the president and republicans can agree on something else that would replace them. combination of either revenue and entitlement changes, the possibilities are theoretically endless, but they have to come to an agreement if they wanted to make a smarter reduction in deficit. >> jamal: this isn't just this fiscal year budget cutting, this is setting a ten-year plan in place, which means less government spending for the next ten years. so people need to express themselves if they are happy

with that or not happy with that, so they let members of congress know if they want them using a scalpel or a hatchet. >> exactly. >> jamal: thank you jim for being here. we're the "bill press show." we'll see you back here in a minute. >> announcer: this is the "bill press show." live on your radio, and on current tv. ♪ >> but you mentioned "great leadership" so i want to talk about donald rumsfeld. >> (laughter). >> watch the show. >> only on current tv.

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this show is about being up to date, staying in touch with everything that is going on politically and putting my own nuance on it. in reality it's not like they actually care. this is purely about political grandstanding. ♪ >> announcer: this is the "bill

press show," live on your radio, and current tv. >> jamal: welcome back to the "bill press show." my name is jamal simmons, and we are sitting here today having a good conversation on the first day of sequester of the 21st century. >> yeah, weird. >> jamal: how was your weekend? >> it was good. >> jamal: any big plans for the week? >> no, nothing major. >> we have snow coming to washington, d.c. on wednesday. >> jamal: is that real? >> yes. i think it is. >> jamal: so i should make it to the store before nothing is left. >> i like snow. i grow up in south carolina so we never saw snow. that being said. it's march. winter you had your shot. it's not supposed to snow that

heavy in march. >> jamal: i either want a nice sunny crisp day or a full-on snow storm where maybe i can stay home and work all day, not have to go in or that kind of thing. but all of this middle of the road business. this gray and -- >> 37 degrees and rain. >> yeah, >> jamal: come on. >> that is the worst weather. >> jamal: i love my state, but the disappearance of the sun for six months can get to you after a while. there is some other political news going on. >> this is literally unbelievable, but we now know that mark sanford is running for congress in south carolina. he told new york magazine that he approached his ex-wife to run his campaign quoting him.

according to jenny she had already told -- this is from the piece first of all. quote, since you are not running, i want to know if you will run my campaign, he said. we can put the team back together? >> i hope she told him to take a hike. >> she told him in so many words that it wasn't going to happen. and she told him i -- you could paid me this time. >> jamal: oh i'm sure he paid her after the divorce happened. >> that is such a fascinating story. not only because of his past, but will he be forgiven. he is still with the woman that he left his wife for.

>> jamal: yes, his fellow hiker on the trail. >> he just fell in love with someone else. >> jamal: yes. what is interesting to me is that jenny sanford has become such a political player that i think those republicans in south carolina would always say she was quite a force in his political life but just wasn't widely recognized. >> there were rumors that she was going to run for congress against mark sanford, which hello -- >> jamal: that would have sold tickets. >> but he is staying out of the limelight now. >> jamal: you don't think of south carolina as an incredibly progressive place, but they have

nikki haley, and tim scott is there. so it's interesting politics going on. >> i am a son of south carolina. i reluctantly claim that as my home state but as we always say in south carolina thank god on mississippi, because we always have them to fall back on. but south carolina is an interesting place. there is a weird progressive community there, and they demand more out of nikki haley who has taken a lot of heat recently whereas in the past it was just sort of accepted. >> jamal: i was looking at any trend lines on twitter, one of

the big trends is spring break is coming up. i was trying to figure out a % weekend vacation spot and i can't find any fairs and hotels for decent prices. >> jamal: yeah. >> yes, my family is all going out of town somewhere. >> very nice. >> jamal: but no spring break for you? >> oh no. we don't get a spring break for the show. although that's a good idea. i could probably talk to bill press about that. >> jamal: all right. we'll be right back. this is the "bill press show." my name is jamal simmons. >> announcer: heard about the country and seen on current tv. this is the "bill press show." ♪

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>> announcer: this is the "bill press show," live on your radio and current tv. >> jamal: good morning. i am jamal simmons here on the "bill press show," sitting in for bill press, who is out today. you know, we have been talking all morning about the southeaster and what the impact is of the sequester in a variety of ways. but our budget woes have gotten into the way of us being able to make one big investment i wish we would make which is to bail out a city like detroit, which is where i'm from. what we saw in the '70s when new york was bailed out by the federal government, that is not

going to happen today, we just don't have the money. if the city were to become bankrupt it would be the largest american city to become bankrupt in the history of the country, and i don't think anybody wants that. they have $327 million deficit, $14 billion in liabilities. it's a really tough situation. my heart goes out to those who have been trying to big out from under this pile. we'll see what happens when they get a city manager. people will lose their jobs services will be cut even more but it is a really tough time. so i hope things work out there in my old hometown. thank you all for having me here this morning. >> great to